Bank gave me too much money...

JimmyTheWig

LEIGHANNE wrote: »

Im not even saying im not going to pay the money back!! Said it a couple of times now. I just thought you guys would be in the knowledge, this may have happened before and give me some sort of advise what to do...

Unfortunately, it seems where this has happened before the customer has ended up paying the money back to a large extent on the bank's terms.

Whether you, we or anyone else likes it or not, it is your responsibility to know the vague balance of your account before withdrawing it. And so unfortunately you have made a mistake and you are the one who has to put it right.

I do hope, though, that you understand how unlikely it is that such a mistake would happen. The difference between £1800 and £400 is huge - not just because £1400 is a lot of money, but because of the comparative difference. You would expect people to know whether their savings were really pretty healthy or running low on the ground.
I can appreciate not knowing how much is in one account if it had been transfered and making that mistake - in which case you would be able to repay the money from a different account. I can appreciate not knowing the exact balance of an account (e.g. I can imagine someone going into the red by, say, £100 when withdrawing £1800.
But I find it really surprising, and I hope that you understand this, that someone had almost emptied their savings account without realising they had done it.

Thinking about this now, is it something that happened over some time? E.g. you transfered £100 here, £200 there to cover your week-by-week expenses? I can imagine starting with a balance of, say, £3000 and being aware that you'd transfered a few hundred pounds a fair few times expecting that this totalled around £1200 when really it totalled around £2600. And so hoping that you had £1800 you go into the bank and say "Can I withdraw £1800 from here?" (i.e. "Am I able to?") and them doing it without checking.

But, unfortunately, however it happened you will have to repay it and you will, to a large extent, have to repay it in a timescale that the bank are happy with.


I would certainly complain to the bank about what happened. Decide what you want them to do (e.g. do you want a goodwill gesture of, say, £50? Or do you want them to agree to a repayment plan that you suggest?) and tell them this in your complaint. Otherwise it may sound like you are trying to get out of repaying the money and they won't have any of it.

ffacoffipawb

Naf wrote: »

How come you only had £400 and thought you had £1800+?

Perhaps she is related to Gordon Brown?

pmduk

The OP is criticising the cashier for not checking the balance when she herself forgot also. I'm amazed the Barclay's systems didn't warn the cashier that a customer was about to enter a large overdraft. That doesn't avoid the fact that we are all responsible for the conduct of our own bank accounts.

timbo58

MoneyAboveMorals wrote: »

This is no different whatsoever to if you had walked in and asked to withdraw 1million pounds in cash, the cashier had failed to check you account balance was sufficient, and instead just handed you 1million quid cash,
then the next day bank phone you up saying they are going to now charge you interest in that 1million quid.


At the end of the day they cannot physically force you to repay any money that you cannot afford to.

That's 'barking mad' I'm afraid.
-Just like the cash machines that go wonky and give people money they haven't got in their accounts.
-The law will always state that it is the account holders responsibility to only draw cleared funds.

The banks can & will physically force you to repay: by which I mean 'they will blacklist you for credit', they will start court proceedings and hire bailiffs.

This thread is about giving sensible advice, and whilst others have opinions about banks or the OP, it's the advice that is needed.

Bloomberg

LEIGHANNE wrote: »

This isnt your usual, theyve given me too much money than what ive asked for.

Basically i called into a Barclays branch to take some money out of my savings account to buy a car. Went in, asked for £1800 which they gave me and i walked out. Bought the car and off i went.

About half hour later i get a call saying they shouldnt have given me the money as i only had £400 in the account.

Called them back later and i told them id bought a car. Already signed the paperwork and handed over the money etc. She said she would inform her manager and get back to me.

She got back to me the next day and asked how long it would take to pay the money back, she started with days, then weeks. I said NO, absoloutly not, were looking at months. So back she went to her manager and now ive only been dealing with the manager herself. She has sent me out a means form to which ive now discussed this with her, and she has the details.

I recieved a letter from Head office Barclays saying i need to return my debit card. As they moved the debt from the savings account to my current account. (This isnt my main account btw) So now ill be incurring charges as im overdrawn AND my credit score will be bought down......


What the hell do i do??:(

Admittedly the bank should have been more alert but you did over look a lot of money too. I think that both parties are to blame.

jamespir

i think you have to pay it backas soon as you cna your both in the wrong here

im sure they did a scene like this in the film the invention of lying he said id like to withdraw 1000 pounds she checked account and there was only like 100 pounds in there but she gave him the money anyway

jonesMUFCforever

I have read all of this thread and personally don't believe a word of it - A TROLL !

BlondBoy

Shessh.

To be blunt - you asked them for money that you haven't got. They gave it to you in error.

Yes. they made a mistake, but just because they're a bank doesn't mean you're immune to simple morality.

They've made a mistake, you've bought a car with their money. What do you think the morally correct thing is to do?

throughtherain

What I don't understand is this: if you were making a big withdrawal like £1,800, wouldn't you specifically ask the cashier to check your balance before making the withdrawal, if the only way of checking the balance was go to in to the branch? Or wouldn't you say after the withdrawal "can you just tell me how much is left in the account?" And if it's not an online account, surely you have a Savings Book to track the balance?

Also I am sorry about the difficult circumstances you find yourself in OP. However if these things affect you in this way, I would avoid making this sort of transaction on days like this.

I also don't understand how a car you bought for £1,800 can now only be worth £700?

The people on this forum ARE very helpful and friendly, but they just don't like it when they sense that someone is trying to blame others for their own mistakes, yet most have supported you in saying that the bank is to blame, but that you also carry some of the blame for this particular incident. Using acronyms like '!!!!!!' doesn't endear you to people on here. Be careful how you express yourself as on an internet forum with no voice intonation to guide you, it is easy to misunderstand somebody's meaning.

Please let us know the outcome.

JimmyTheWig

throughtherain wrote: »

What I don't understand is this: if you were making a big withdrawal like £1,800, wouldn't you specifically ask the cashier to check your balance before making the withdrawal, if the only way of checking the balance was go to in to the branch? Or wouldn't you say after the withdrawal "can you just tell me how much is left in the account?" And if it's not an online account, surely you have a Savings Book to track the balance?

I suspect that, given the OP didn't want to get into too much conversation, she said something like "Can I withdraw £1800 out of here?", assuming the answer to be "yes" when she was given the money.